Now and Then

Four women meet in their home town for the birth of a childhood friend's baby. The narrative goes back to the summer of 1970: the same four girls, investigating an old incident in the town because of a name they found in a graveyard. The film uses the mystery as a pretext. The narrative is really about what was breaking in each of their houses that summer: a divorce, an absence, a fear of pregnancy. The present-day scenes are kept short and the weight sits entirely in the childhood. Lesli Linka Glatter directed. Christina Ricci, Thora Birch and Gaby Hoffmann play the girls; Demi Moore, Rosie O'Donnell and Melanie Griffith the adults. Who it's for: those who like films about childhood friendship between women. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a constructed plot; this moves in pieces of memory.